Deepak Manange, who was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Gandaki from Manang, has applied with the office of the speaker in the province demanding he be administered oath of office and secrecy.
Manange, who was serving a five-year sentence in an attempt to murder case, applied at the office last Thursday after being released on bail by the Supreme Court (SC) administration on December 21, according to Speaker of Gandaki Netra Nath Adhikari.
"He has registered application. We are holding discussions whether he can be sworn in as per the law or not," Adhikaro told Setopati. "It is difficult to take decision in lack of clear laws."
Adhikari said he is consulting the chief attorney of the province and legal experts about the issue.
Manange was released from Dilli Bazar Jail on December 21 after the SC administration ordered his release on bail of Rs 27,375.
"Persons who are serving sentence of less than 10 years get the facility of bail while appealing the court verdict. The court administration provides the facility. He has been released according to the facility provided by the law," Communication Expert with the SC Kishore Paudel had told Setopati.
Manange, real name Rajeev Gurung, had applied for bail with the SC administration as per the facility after getting permission to appeal the Patan Appellate Court verdict.
Manange, who was elected as an independent candidate from Manang-B with support of the then CPN-UML, had gone into hiding after a five-year sentence slapped by the Patan Appellate Court on him six years ago for attempted murder was revealed at the Supreme Court (SC) on January 16.
Interpol had issued the red corner notice on initiative of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police putting police in 192 member states after him. He was arrested on April 19 from Tindhara, Swoyambhu in Kathmandu.
He was kept at the Dilli Bazar Jail since April 20.
The Patan Appellate Court in 2013 had sentenced Manange for five years in an attempt to murder case for the attack on another gangster Chakre Milan in 2005. The Patan Appellate Court had given clean chit to co-accused Ganesh Lama, Umesh Lama, Rewat Karki and Ramesh Sunuwar. Public prosecutors then moved the SC against the clean chit given to the four co-accused demanding punishment against them.
But the sentence against Manange was not enforced and he became provincial legislator of Province 4 winning the provincial election from Manang-B.
The unimplemented guilty verdict against Manange came to the fore only on January 16 when an advocate reached the SC bench of Deepak Raj Joshi and Purushottam Bhandari—that was hearing the case filed by the public prosecutors demanding punishment against the four acquitted by the Patan Appellate Court—pleading that his client Manange did not know about the verdict, consequently was not aware of the expiry of deadline of appeal, and hence could not appeal against the guilty verdict.
“You are not defendant on this case. The Patan Appellate Court’s verdict will be final for you,” the bench had told the lawyer.
Case History
A gang led by Manange had attacked Chakre Milan with sword in 2005. Milan’s hand was chopped into two pieces and was later stitched together. Milan’s wife Indira Gandhi filed an attempted murder case against Manange and others in the Kathmandu District Court.
The Kathmandu District Court deemed it to be a case of affray and slapped a two-year sentence on a few. Public prosecutors then moved the Patan Appellate Court against the verdict demanding greater sentence against the accused arguing it was an attempted murder case.
The Patan Appellate Court in 2013 found Manange guilty of attempted murder and sentenced him for five years while giving clean chit to the four co-accused. Public prosecutors were satisfied with the verdict against Manange and moved the SC in 2014 only against the acquitted four.
